1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an access port for providing a leak proof seal between a conduit and a partition wall such as a film layer of a medical device or the skin.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is often desired to lead a conduit, such as a drain tube, catheter, trocar or the like through a barrier, such as a flexible film, the wall of an ostomy bag or the skin surface, e.g. laparoscopy in a leak proof manner. Access ports for such purposes are well known in the art. Several problems may be associated with these access ports: Flexibility allowing the conduit to enter different positions under control, adapting the size or the aperture for the conduit to fit different conduit diameters, attachment to the surface and avoiding leakage.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,531 is disclosed a cannula skirt for stabilizing and restraining the movement of a laparoscopic cannula as well as providing a leakage tight seal against the patients skin. The skirt comprises a narrow stem segment for securing the cannula and a wider flanged section for attachment to the skin by adhesive means. The skirt provides flexibility for the cannula to move slightly sidewards, while up and down movements is controlled. The skirt is provided with a clamp for securing tight fit around the cannula.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,185 is disclosed a drain access port mounted on a thermoplastic film, such as the wall of an ostomy bag. The access port comprises an elastomeric nipple portion and a rigid portion for attaching the port to the thermoplastic film. The nipple portion is preferably cone-shaped and the nipple portion of the access port needs to be cut to fit the catheter. The drain access port can only be accessed from one direction. If the user tries to access the port with a catheter form the other side, there is a risk of separating the two parts during use. In the operation the operator has a risk of cutting the opening to big, this will give a poor seal around the catheter. Furthermore after having adjusted the nipple portion to a certain catheter size, good seal around a smaller catheter cannot be achieved. The limited elasticity or stretchability of the material jeopardizes the introduction of anything into the drains access port that is a considerably bigger than the aperture that the user have cut from start. The device includes internal and external coupling rings adapted to be locked together with a collar of film material clamped there between. The rigidity of this clamping portion increases the risk of kinking the conduit (e.g. a catheter), because it is made of two rigid injection molded parts and thus not flexible.
Alcare has a product on the market, much similar to the above-mentioned product, but without a rigid base part, as the product is attached to the film with adhesive. However, the material is not flexible enough to introduce something into the drain access port that is just a little bigger than the opening the user has cut from start as the flexibility of the material is to low. This makes it difficult to insert something slightly bigger than the opening created by the cut. Due to that it feels more difficult to insert a catheter that is just slightly bigger than the opening, the user have tendency to cut the opening even bigger, increasing the risk of poor sealing.
The above-mentioned devices need a (sterile) scissor or other cutting instrument for making a hole and it may be a problem to have such sterile scissors available. Cuffing with non-sterile scissors may lead to infection of the site.
The above-mentioned references all suffer from problems with leakage and/or flexibility and thus there is still a need for a leakage-proof and flexible access port.